Jews and Christians celebrate the feast of Passover annually.  Passover is a word of Hebrew origin: “Pesah,” which means “leaping over” or “passage.”  Jews commemorate the crossing of the Red Sea, the liberation from Egypt, and all that this event meant for the Israelites of the Old Testament, right up to the present day. Christians, with the feast of Passover, commemorate the central tenet of our faith: the Resurrection of the Crucified One, Jesus Christ, the Lord, the Son of God, as the passage from death to life, the victory of good over evil, the triumph of the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth, from the old to the new, from a life of slavery to a life of children of God, from the laws to the fullness of the law through the new commandment of love.

Therefore, regardless of one’s religious beliefs,  Easter is a celebration that contains profound meaning and  deep-rooted anthropological and social messages that inspire every human being.

Because Easter, first and foremost, teaches us that  the end is not the end . If the cross symbolizes suffering, the apparent victory of evil over good, the apparent failure of every human endeavor, chaos and destruction as humanity’s destiny, Easter affirms that disruption is possible and that there is always a new opportunity on earth.

Easter offers a narrative that is the antithesis of entropy, disorder, and chaos. Easter is a celebration of  life force,  of recovery from trauma, of resilience, of optimism against pessimism, of meaning against meaninglessness and absurdity. Therefore, Easter invites us all to choose life, in all its forms and manifestations, over death; even when wars, climate crises, injustices, violence, and all kinds of conflicts and anxieties suggest that all is lost.

If the unjust condemnation imposed on Jesus of Nazareth, his passion, and death on the cross had been forgotten, then injustice would have had the last word. Easter is  the validation of the innocent victim.  Easter represents the hope of the triumph of Truth, of patient and unwavering persistence in Truth, the triumph of ethics and the highest human values ​​over brute force, the vindication of the certain victory, in the end, of the best human struggles for humanity and a better world.

In the north, Easter coincides with the beginning of spring, and both speak to us of the  rebirth  of nature and of human nature. Of a new beginning, of a Pauline “new man” with a new life. Easter affirms the possibility of always reinventing ourselves. No one is condemned to their past. Every person can rise from the tomb of their mistakes, their failures, their limitations, to always begin anew, to embark on a new path, a new life in a new society.

Because everything confessed and celebrated at Easter contains a  driving force for social change  against all determinism and fatalism: what seemed impossible to overcome—evil and death—has been conquered. Easter is a cry of protest against cynicism and the tyranny of evil, against all resignation. Easter is the cry of hopeful rebellion against all forms of despair. Through Easter, every form of undignified and inhumane life, every form of impoverishment, discrimination, hatred, violence, and injustice can and must be overcome and defeated.

The celebration of Easter protests against an immanent and blind view of this world and proposes  a transcendent vision of human life and history . Easter is the anticipation of the new, abundant, happy, and fulfilling life we ​​all long for. Through Easter, the yearning for human fulfillment is not in vain. “ Life passes through death, but is not swallowed by it .” (L. Boff). The final word and ultimate destiny of humankind is not death but the most perfect life. Through Easter, rays of light and new life penetrate and illuminate our darkness.

But  Easter continues to happen in the world today…  And  we must all build a daily and ongoing Easter . Whenever justice triumphs over injustice, whenever good overcomes evil, whenever truth and hope prevail over corruption and lies, whenever fraternal and supportive relationships prevail over pettiness and selfishness, whenever love, forgiveness, and joy triumph over hatred and sadness: it is Easter.

Thus, the celebration of Easter will always remind us that life possesses a stubbornness that is both ultimate and superior to any form of evil and death, and that  we must all always take a step,  a leap forward, toward the new, toward what is good and better.  HAPPY STEPS, HAPPY EASTER!